Bundesliga Transfer Spending On Record Pace, With More Than $229M Spent

The 18 German Bundesliga clubs "have spent €186M ($229M) on player transfers this summer, which is the highest amount in five years," according to FAZ.net. Calculations from the DPA revealed that the Bundesliga teams "have spent a total of €186.23M ($229.6M) on 178 new players so far, which is a record-breaking pace for league transfer spending." The record of €194M in transfer spending, which was recorded during the summer of '07, "seems to be in jeopardy." Bundesliga teams have generated revenue of €142,85M ($180.9M) from their transfers, which means overall "transfer spending has left the league with a €43,28M ($54.8M) loss so far." During the previous year, German clubs spent only €87M for 132 new players. The league currently ranks fourth overall in transfer spending, behind the English Premier League (€300M/$379.9M), Italian Serie A (€280M/$354.6M) and French Ligue 1 (€198M/$250.7M). The Bundesliga clubs that "have spent the most money so far are Borussia Monchengladbach with €31.2M ($38.5M) followed by Bayern Munich (€29.8M/$36.7M) and Borussia Dortmund (€26.5M/$32.7M)." Only a "third of the 18 Bundesliga teams have a made a profit" on their transfers: Werder Bremen (€7.3M/$9.2M), VfB Stuttgart (€6.8M/$8.6M), FC Nuremberg (€4.8M/$6.1M), 1899 Hoffenheim (€4.65M/$5.9M), Hamburg SV (€2M/$2.5M) and FSV Mainz 05 (€1.5M/$1.9M) (FAZ.net, 8/14).